General SportbikesThis area is for sport bike discussion in general. Topics that don't really belong anywhere else can go here. Questions can be answered and addressed to fully understand certain aspects of the sport. If your question is manufacturer specific please post it there.
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what ever one puts the biggest smile on your face. If you can find on in good condition, the RC-51 was a good bike for me. It had a very street friendly motor, the only complaint was that it sometimes ran warm in the summer sitting in traffic (240 degrees F).

For new bikes, best bang-for-the-buck, I'd look at the Triumph Street Triple, Kawasaki Z1000, or Ducati HyperMotard 796.

For a used bike, you can't go wrong with a Honda CBR600, of whatever age fits your budget.

PhilB

"If you want to be free, there is but one way; it is to guarantee an equally full measure of liberty to all your neighbors. There is no other." -- Carl Schurz, (1829-1906) German born U.S. Senator and Union Army general during the US Civil War

"A free man must be able to endure it when his fellow men act and live otherwise than he considers proper." -- Ludwig von Mises

The best bang for the buck comes from the bike you like to ride the most.

I actually haven't figured out what that bike is... And I currently own 6 bikes...

I have a few bikes .. so if its out of what I have .. its probably the old 750 rat bike that cost £500 to build and gets used for general running around .. And its got lots of bang .... cos I cut the exhausts down to very very short indeed

6 bikes... I don't know how you get time to ride them all. I have 5 and have a hard time riding them all.

I don't have time to ride them all, that's why I know that the best bang for the buck is the bike that you actually ride the most.

I like the XT660R and it's a blast riding off road, but the thumper doesn't make for very nice long rides...

That's what the XJR1300 comes in, she eats miles, the power delivery feels electric. But it's a big bike, with the engine of a small car, she is very unhappy in the city. She's also a big heavy old school bike, you must know what you're doing to ride her fast...

There is where the SV1000S comes in, she can handle the city, and she is a very capable sportbike. She is clos to being a better all around bike than the XJR, but for a long ride I'll take the XJR without thinking it twice.

Somehow I ended up with a 2nd SV1KS which is still in "project" status.

Then there is the CBR 600RR, which for me, has been the absolute worst bang for the buck. I wanted a dedicated track bike, as I commute on my street bikes, and I have some friends that race, or raced, 07 600RR, so I could take advantage of what they had already done with their bikes. In Mexico City sport bikes are hot items for thieves, they are all over them, so I rarely take her out, I haven't been to the track in the last 2 years.

Then there is a scooter...

Another fail story. I moved very close to where I worked, 3 miles and 6 miles from my company's HQ. Scooter made sense to commute and as a grocery getter (I don't have a car). Three months later I'm no longer working with that client and I'm working from home...

So the scooter is now a dedicated grocery getter.

Finally an old Yamaha RX-S 115. I needed my old school 2 stroke fix. It's a fixer upper, but it does have that... Don't know what, that reconnects you with riders of the 60 and 70s. Maybe it's the 2 stroke smoke and dim 6V headlamp?